there are four postal unions. we represent the people in maintenance, machine side, people that drive the truck and the clerks that both sort mail and are in the retail units. so -- and tell me when my 10 minutes is up. i think one good thing about this administration's task force is that it's a good opportunity to underscore, for us anyway, some important facts and truths regarding the united states postal service. something that we consider a national treasure belonging to all the people of the united states. and i know today, and i apologize or not being able to be here for the entire meeting -- there's a lot of discussion about universal service, what it should mean and all these things -- i think that for the people of this country, from the most urban center to the most rural outpost, including the bottom of the grand canyon, universal service is a must and keeps the postal service relevant for every single person . no matter who we are, where we live, our income, our nationality, gender, age, and so on and

the president of the postal service union. there are 200,000 postal employees and 1500 employees in the private sector mailing industry. mark cut his teeth as a postal union leader in the greensboro area, and served there from 1986 to 1998. and also from 2000 to 2010, he was the lead field organizer for the union. he has been with the postal service since 1983, and we are looking forward to your remarks. thank you very much for coming. >> thank you. good afternoon, all. i appreciate the invitation. probably will be bringing a different perspective to the discussion. most of you know there are four postal unions. we represent the people in maintenance, machine side, people that drive the truck and the clerks that both sort mail and are in the retail units. tell me when my 10 minutes is up. i think one good thing about this administration's task force is that it's a good opportunity to underscore, for us anyway, some important facts and truths regarding the united states postal service. something that we consider a national treas

2017 and on behalf serving as vice chairman of the coalition which is comprised of 31 federal and postal union protections with federal and postal employees and retirees. a graduate from new york university and cornell we are looking forward to your remarks. >> good afternoon and thank you for organizing this forum and the opportunity to share even though i am vice chair i do not hold those coalition views with those issues that i will be talking about today just to make that clear. we have more than 200,000 members across the country dedicated to protecting and enhancing interests of federal postal employees, retirees and survivors. retirees make up a large portion of membership about 25%. these numbers care deeply about maintaining a strong and vibrant service to american citizens that what people can count on in the governmental function. as employees they earn health benefits in exchange for years of hard work they expect u.s. government to live up to its end of the bargain unfortunately the house and senate version would unilaterally change the terms of the bargain these bills will be inf

mark cut his teeth as a postal union leader the greensboro area and served there from 1986 until 1998, also from 2000 to 2010 the national lead field organization erring. has been with the postal service since 1983 and we're looking forward to your remarks. thank you for coming. >> good afternoon. i appreciate the invitation. probably will be brinking a disperspective. we represent the maintenance, machine side, people that drive the truck and the clerks that both sort mail and are in the retail units. so, until me when my ten minutes is up. i think one good thing about this administration's task force is that it's a good opportunity to underscore for us, anyway, some important facts and truths regarding the united states postal service. something that we consider national treasure belonging to all the people of the united states, and i know today and i apologize for not being able to be here for the whole mething. there's a lot of discussion about universal service, what it should mean and all these things. i think that for the people of this country, from me most urban center to in

call,nk you for taking my and it comes to unions, one woman spoke about the postal union. i was a member. ofs comes about the cousin poor union leadership. they don't make convenient hours to come to general meetings. every time we get a raise, they raise our dues. if you are not supporting the leadership, there is a chance that you will not get represented or not it represented will -- well. this came about because of poor leadership. why should he have to pay dues for nothing and get nothing? they get ahip, pension from the union. they do not get a pension from the union. they get it from the post office. were winning elections by acclamation. i put up three tickets and was given a death threat and told i was going to be killed. the government was informed and they did nothing. they buried the case. from what a far cry they used to be in our country. they used to stick up for the workers. they had apprenticeship programs for you have people who performed the job well. you,i'm going to tell there is a tremendous not of people that do not earn their day and that starts at t

when it comes to unions, specifically one lady spoke about the postal union. i was a member of the national association of letter carriers, and this comes about i think because of really poor union leadership. they don't make convenient hours for the members to come to general meetings. every time we get a raise they raise our dues. of the in not part crowd and supporting the leadership, there is a chance you won't get represented or will not get represented well in a grievance. because ofame about port union leadership. as the gentleman says, why should he have to pay dues for nothing, get nothing? the leadership of the national association of letter carriers, they get a pension from the union. the members don't get no pension from the union, they get it from the post office. and they were so bad at one they were winning elections by acclimation. i put up three tickets against them and i was given a death threat and told i was going to be killed. and the government was informed of it and they did nothing. they buried the case. this is because unions are a far

call,nk you for taking my and it comes to unions, one woman spoke about the postal union. was a member. ofs comes about the cousin poor union leadership. they don't make convenient hours to come to general meetings. every time we get a raise, they raise our dues. if you are not supporting the leadership, there is a chance that you will not get represented or not it represented will -- well. this came about because of poor leadership. why should he have to pay dues for nothing and get nothing? they get ahip, pension from the union. they do not get a pension from the union. they get it from the post office. were winning elections by acclamation. i put up three tickets and was given a death threat and told i was going to be killed. the government was informed and they did nothing. they buried the case. from what a far cry they used to be in our country. they used to stick up for the workers. they had apprenticeship programs for you have people who performed the job well. you,i'm going to tell there is a tremendous not of people that do not earn their day and that starts at the

melissa: president trump's plan to privatize the post office hitting resistance from postal worker ps union's president explains why he believes the move is bad for customers. later this hour he's going to meet post master melissa. >>> when the news hits home, a gunman opening fire on the capital gazette newsroom killing five journalists. the latest details on the investigation and the shooter's motive. that's next >>> soim so proud of the journalists that soldiered on these guys. they don't make a lot of money. they do journalism because they love what they do and they got a newspaper outsid out today. and at expedia, we don't think you should be rushed into booking one. adam: as a reporter for the capital gazette tweeted, putting out a damn paper. the capital gazette fulfilling their promise to publish a friday edition hours after their newsroom was ravaged by a gunman killing five of their coworker ps the front page covered the tragic story while the opinion page took a solemn stance appearing blank with a simple message. this is the message. today we're speechless. this page is intentiona

and we worked with them, including the postal service and their unions to try to arrive at a workable solution. as a result of these discussions in consultations, we have been able to make a number of important changes. the legislation on the floor today makes a number of significant changes that address the concerns raised by stakeholders. first, this bill allows more time for united states postal service to come into compliance. the united states postal service will have until the end of 2020 to transmit the a.e.d. on all international mail delivered to the united states. this legislation includes a waiver that excludes countries that lack capacity to collect that information and pose a low rick of violating u.s. laws 100% requirement. as a result the united states postal service will not be penalized for issues that are outside of its control and should be able to comply with its international commitments. second, the amended legislation removes the requirement that the united states postal service hire a broker for every package that enters into the united states. saving costs, en

union. and, in fact, in the postal service, according to bureau of labor statistics data, we find that about 94% of employees who are subject to collective bargaining agreements are members of the union even though you don't have agency fees. in the federal government generally, including the postal service, that number is about 80%, and if you just take the -- the postal service out and look at the federal government, it's still north of 80%. justice sotomayor: how much of general francisco: that's according to bureau of labor statistics data. justice sotomayor: how much of the workplace is unionized for the federal government? general francisco: i believe that in the federal government generally, about a quarter of the workplace, a quarter to a third of the workplace is unionized. justice sotomayor: and how much is their unionization in the general corporate sector? general francisco: i think -- justice sotomayor: or private sector? general francisco: my -- i don't know for sure. i think it's on the order of -- i think it's less than that, but i'm not exactly sure what the private sector r

postal service, that can drive additional business to fedex if that continues. they are better positioned than ups which is potentially facing some unions. >> positive on fedex, it is a buy, so to speak. apple is vulnerable to the trade battle with china. >> we look at apple as a behemoth company. we think there is going to be significant share buybacks, significant dividend hikes over the next few years, and that company over the next three years on auto continue growing, and we think it is another innovation cycle behind the iphone and ipad and the things they have been doing. if you look at their pc sales, the curveay behind and there is an opportunity for them to ramp up. us one more recommendation whether it is an individual stock or a little bit more cash right now and put your head down. are overweight in cash, 7.5% cash across the board. if you are this -- owning a lot of the stocks i that have done very, very well over the last year -- think about the tech sector -- start feeling back. back. >> put the money in your pocket. oliver, think you for joining us. remember, bloomberg users can interact with the chart you think gtv go

postal service is going to help fedex. they're constructed differently than ups in the sense fedex own their routes you don't have the type of unionk or strike risk that a company like ups does, and great earnings outlook for the company. >> rick, we talked about this already, but going back to the dollar and strength, today's paired back a little bit, but it's interesting, actually, the oil prices rose as much as they have with the dollar >> yeah, no, the commodity-dollar relationship obvious to all investors, but, you know, let's not underestimate the commodities certain have a life of their own that stretches out well beyond the effects of the reserve currency denomination, and that gives us good clues with regard to opec. markets are smart. leadup to the big events, investors have a good idea that's why they are appty-icallimatic or counterintuitive when the event actually occurs. >> to that point, anything in the energy space you move on today now that the move today is to bid up crude and a lot of the oil names as well. >> yeah. so, i mean, i think very broadly speaking, we're not huge on the energy space there's a couple st

by the way, in terms of the post office, someone told me today that the postal union was concerned about this legislation. i would encourage you to talk to rank and file mail carriers, postal carriers and ask them what they think. they don't want to be carrying this poison into our communities. they don't want to be potentially exposed to this poison should a package leak because of the danger of it. they agree, the people i talked to, that we absolutely have to crack down on this. we're not asking the post office to do it alone. we're providing funding to customs and border protection to be there with them. the postal inspectors, the folks who are actually -- local law enforcement are desperate tone sure we can do this because they're tired of it. they're tired of seeing this stuff just come in like an avalanche coming into our country and creating all these problems across the board in our communities, every sector of our community being affected. people are desperate for solutions because they acknowledge the problem. i had a tele-town hall meeting last week here in washington where i